TRIBUTES have been paid to a North Wales man who died in a road accident in the Middle East.

Chris Collier, 39, a BAE Systems mechanical engineer from St George near Abergele, was fatally hurt in Saudi Arabia.

His family are desperately trying to find out how the accident happened.

But it is understood he was returning home to Tabuk from visiting his fiancée Janneth.

His sister Clare Hollins, 37, who lives in the West Midlands, said: “It was a car accident but we have had no police report.”

Describing her brother she added: “He was funny and silly - the life and soul of the party. He lived life to the full and he was passionate about his planes.”

Clare said her brother had served at RAF Brize Norton as part of the Queen’s Flight and at RAF Valley as a flight mechanic before joining Airbus where he became a team leader.

He was used to working on various aircraft including Nimrods and Hawks and went on to get a job at BAE Systems’ base in Tabuk. Chris had been born to mum Mavis in Kitwe in Zambia where his late father Thomas was working as an oil piping engineer.

Clare said: “Chris followed in our Dad’s footsteps and became a mechanical engineer. He had worked in Tabuk in Saudi over the last three years.”

She thanked BAE Systems staff for their support during this traumatic time.

Chris had been a keen traveller and diver in countries including Thailand and Jordan.

Clare added: “He met his fiancée Janneth in a diving shop in Jordan.”

Relatives and friends are expected to gather at St Thomas’s Church in Rhyl, where their mother lives, on Friday for a celebration of his Chris’s life.

It will be led by the Reverend Stan Walker.

The gathering in Rhyl will be followed by a service at Colwyn Bay crematorium.

Chris had been a dear uncle and godfather of Daniel, and the much loved fiancée of Janneth.

A family tribute described him as a “good friend to many who will be sadly missed”.

Yesterday, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman in London was unable to comment on the case before the Daily Post went to press.

But many friends have paid their respects on a Facebook site called Chris Collier Memorial Page since his death on January 15.

Former colleague John Chesterman wrote: “I worked with Chris at Airbus, stage 2 single aisle.

“I also worked with him in Saudi.

“Whenever that lad walked into a room, the whole room seemed brighter!!

“Miss you mate, what a tremendous honour to have worked with you and to of known you!”

Another message was written by Dawn Williams: “He certainly will be sadly missed.”